Trixuny - Let's just say that he is in for some major character development continuation in the next 2-3 chapters ;)
Gowithebeat - Hahahaha xDDD
The Archivist of Nyx - SURPRISE, IT'S LATE THURSDAY. Also Aizawa is absolutely a big softie under all that grit.
TheGreatBubbaJ - The whole Kamino Ward Aftermath mini-arc is going to be all about great reveals ;)
Detrametal - Bakugou and Endeavor. Mineta too, in fact. Tenya too. Honestly, there is a LOT of character development in this fic.
Dragonjek - He just probably doesn't go into 'details'. So for example not just that specific orphanage catering to that specific type of children, but instead all orphanages equally (for example), including those that cater to this specific type of children.
(***)
Late Thursday Evening is a small difference from Early Friday Morning, right? I just honestly want a free tomorrow, so I'm posting this now.
(***)
Uraraka Ochaco knocked on the doors of the Midoriya household. She half-expected them to not be there, especially with what happened to All Might. But no. Midoriyas are there, and Inko promptly pulls her inside.
She probably caught them between visits. Besides, there are security reasons too. People would start asking who they were to visit the fallen Symbol of Peace. So maybe there were no visits?
"Finally, you are here." She looks relieved. "Izuku needs you."
"Err, what?" That has essentially thrown all her expectations of this visit out of the window. That's… great. She's going to have to improvise the whole thing, isn't she?
"He needs you." Inko looks reassured. And maybe on the verge of tears. "Because he is worrying me. A lot. Since the Training Camp. And he absolutely refuses to tell me what's wrong, and he has been throwing off-handed remarks about him dropping from the school and…"
"He what?!" Uraraka gasps. This is… surreal! Absolutely surreal! Izuku Midoriya leaving the UA, Izuku Midoriya not becoming a hero is like… All Might losing a f… shit, she's going to need a new comparison for impossible things. They all do.
"Yes, I know!" Inko shares her shock. "I don't get it either! You are his girlfriend, if there is a single person outside of his siblings to whom he'll talk honestly, it's you. And they are way too influenced by him to be able to tell him to stop being an idiot! He is in his room, by the way."
Uraraka Ochaco goes into her hypermotivated mode. This is a time for an intervention.
(***)
"Izuku. Midoriya." She announces after opening the door. She considered kicking them in to reinforce the fact that she meant business, but they looked pretty tough. So instead she opened them with enough murder intent desire to help her boyfriend for them to hit the wall. The impact actually threw some books off the nearby bookshelf.
Necessary sacrifices.
Hey boyfriend was sitting by his desk, doing something on a computer that almost certainly wasn't answering the questions people asked him on the school-provided communicator. And that alone deserved a bonk in the face.
"O…Ochaco!" He looks equal parts happy and sad to see her. And perhaps a whole lot of guilty. "Why are you here?"
"My boyfriend, the love of my life, has almost lost his father and didn't answer my messages nor pick up his phone for two days straight." Ochaco promptly replies. "You should be happy that I didn't phone the police and told them that someone probably kidnapped you or something!"
She can hear the loud gulp at that. Yes. Be afraid. Because what you did was, to quote Himichan, super-dummy. And she doesn't find a lot of things super-dummy, most of them are simply dummy.
"S… sorry for worrying you." He looks down. "I'll… I'll understand it if you no longer want to be my… my girlfriend and…"
Oh great. It happened. Momo suspected that Izuku has some serious problems underneath all that 'hair full of secrets' and that sooner or later they were going to spill. It looks like it just happened.
Uraraka Ochaco is going to get to the bottom of this even if she has to beat Izuku up for that.
"Of course I want to be your girlfriend!" He has the audacity to be actually shocked by it. "You are pretty much the nicest, most helpful and hardworking person I have ever met! Who wouldn't want to be your girlfriend?! I narrowly took the first place in the queue to confess to you, you know!"
And now he looks even more guilty. Okay, Uraraka, wrong route. You're going to have to be a bit more pushy.
"So now, you are going to tell me everything that's bothering you." Uraraka announces, before closing the door behind her, and finds herself a chair. She sits right in front of the door, of course. "I'm not letting you out before you spill the beans."
"But… the dinner…"
"It's going to be katsudon." Uraraka is merciless. He needs that, and she's going to do her best to help him. "And you aren't going to get any unless you confess everything. And I mean, EVERYTHING. Go on."
He deflates. Seriously, wasn't his father's ability to do this due to his injuries? How can he do that so well?
"I'm a fraud." He says.
"No, you are not." She expected a lot, but not Izuku getting hit by impostor syndrome. And yes, she had a talk about that with Yaomomo before coming here. She was prepared when theoreticals were involved. Well, mostly.
"I am." He replies, with just a hint of adamant in his voice. "I should have never gone to the UA."
"Then a lot of us, students and teachers alike, would be dead." She replies. Thirteen, to begin with. Tsuyu-chan and Mineta too, probably. And that's just the USJ. "That sounds like you did a lot of good things, isn't it?"
"Ugh…" He isn't sure how to tackle that. Honestly, how can someone so smart be so dumb on that particular field? After seeing Asa, she starts to think that it's somehow connected. "It's not that, it's just…"
"Then tell me what's that." She gives him her intimidated glare and he actually deflates a bit more before regaining his bearings.
"My quirk…" He says. "Aiko told you how I got it?" What? What is it about? Why would the quirk…
Oh.
He holds it in really high regard. So many ancient heroes inside. Plus, it belonged to All Might. If he felt somewhat unworthy of it… He did hide a lot of things from the heroes within, she knew that much.
But why is it all spilling out now?
"Yes, it's a transferable quirk." She replies cautiously. "You got it from your dad, yes?"
"Yes, but…" He looks down. "There is more to that."
He promptly narrates the day that he impressed All Might enough to receive an offer to be his successor - and then discovered that All Might was his father. Most of it is new to Uraraka. Especially the part when All Might has initially rebuked Izuku's ambition to become a hero.
What the hell, All Might?
"That sounds like something you genuinely earned, Izuku." She says when he ends. He doesn't look persuaded at all.
"You don't understand, I…" He looks down once again. He is sitting, curled, in his chair. Hugging his legs while trying to hide behind them. "Everyone that knows about Aldera keeps telling me how awesome and great I am for not breaking. For still wanting to be a hero after all that, even after what my dad first told me. And that's why I'm a fraud." Now there are tears welling up in his eyes. "Because I broke."
"What?" She doesn't understand. That fact alone seems to be worsening his anguish.
"I broke, Ochaco!" He yells, tears now going down his face. "After All Might told me that I can't be a hero, after I helped Bakugou only to hear that it wasn't needed I… I had enough! Before All Might found me again, for those… thirty or forty minutes, I… I've been planning how to use all my skills and contacts to kill people! Kill Bakugou, kill my teachers, ruin Aldera, and k… kill All Might!"
This was… not what Uraraka Ochaco expected. Her boyfriend was smart, but All Might wasn't seriously threatened in all of that. The others, though… someone really dodged a bullet.
"But then All Might came back and apologized!" Izuku continues on, still as anguished at the start. "He said that he would help me become a hero! Then he destroyed Aldera! Then Bakugou… then Bakugou in all but words apologized to me! I was wrong, Uraraka, I was wrong all along! I wanted to kill them all, and I was wrong! But ever since then, everything… everything was like a dream come true to me! I don't deserve any of that! I don't deserve you! Not after…"
Uraraka Ochaco slaps her boyfriend in the face. That shuts him up. Although it only makes him look more guilty. Which, honestly, wasn't her point.
"Midoriya. Izuku." She says and once again he looks down, tears streaming on his face. "Do I look like a present to you?"
"W…What?" He blinks at her a few times, trying to comprehend what it was about. He fails. "N…no?"
"Precisely." She grabs him by the collar and looks into his eyes very, very closely. "I'm not something that life hands to people as a gift. I've fallen in love with you, because you impressed me. Because I decided that I want to be a hero with you. A hero LIKE you. You EARNED me. Just like you earned everything else."
"But I…"
"So you had a really bad day, what about it?" She is going to drive the nail as deep as possible, because considering what a dumb idiot Izuku sometimes is… this is a necessity. "Aldera tortured you for years. Suicide baiting, illegal quirk usage on you that the school ENCOURAGED! Do you know why people around you say that you are awesome for not breaking? Because they, and most of them are pro-heroes, know that they probably would have broken if they were you!"
"But I did!" He should be glad that she isn't taking a page from his own book about dealing with personal issues, because Inko wouldn't like them repeating the Izuku vs Shoto fight from the festival up here. But she is SOOO close to doing that.
"Just like they would!" She yells at him. "Just like I would! And years before you did! And then, when someone has given you a chance, you immediately lunged for it! And you stuck to it, no matter what was happening to you! You had Tenko disintegrate your arm, almost dying of blood loss and shock, because you knew that the enemy had kidnapped some of your classmates and that was the only way to help them! Whatever you lost that evening you have regained tenfold since!"
Of course, that was going way too far. Way too… Plus Ultra. But she was going to leave that particular stern talk to Yaomomo. For now, Izuku needed encouragement. Not common sense.
She still needs to figure out why he broke so much right now. But… perhaps too much stress, perhaps he feels like he used a bit too underhanded methods (Tenko) for all of that, and… oh. Tenko's grandmother was watching all of that, wasn't she?
Besides, he was hiding all that 'I broke' bit for months now, it was slowly making him feel more and more guilty, like a snowball effect of guilt and self-loathing (and yes, she is pissed off that it took him months to admit it). And he kept hiding it all under his permanently smiling face.
"You… you really think so?" Izuku blinks at her a few times, in a daze.
"Of course I do, you goddamned idiot!" She yells at him. "If anything, I'm absolutely furious that you spent two days having a mental break like that AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN CALL ME ABOUT IT! Learn to lean on others sometimes, dammit! You aren't alone! You have me, you have Tenya, you have Hitoshi and Himiko, you have Tsuyu and Inasa, you have all the other friends, so stop suffering alone like some stereotypical edgelord teenager, for fu… god's sake! We could have solved this two days ago! Hell, we could have solved this months ago!"
"Oh." Judging from the look on his face, she just rearranged his entire worldview. And he wasn't sure what to feel about it. It'll take him a while to work it out. "Well, uhm, there is also what I did recently to be taken into account, and I…"
"You did something besides the Tenko thing?" She asks back. With maybe a hint of a dawning existential horror.
Then he starts talking.
(***)
"Why are they shouting so much?" Eri pouts a bit over her katsudon. It's her favourite dish, probably because it was her oldest brother's favourite dish. She still likes the sweet desserts the most, but katsudon is the best out of non-sweet things.
"She is trying to save him." Aiko comments, not interrupting her attempts to (furiously and maliciously) stab the meat in front of her with a fork for a second.
Asa would have added something, but he was entering a growth spurt. Probably. And he was permanently hungry. With a mouth full of food he could only gargle something (and he didn't even do that, because he knew what his mom's opinion about trying to speak and eat at the same time was).
"From?" Eri seems lost.
"From himself." Aiko replies. That leaves Eri significantly confused. Why would someone need to save someone from Izuku Midoriya? Unless they were a meanie. But he wasn't a meanie, he was a hero!
Then they all heard a loud crash coming from upstairs. Few seconds later Uraraka Ochaco appeared at the stairs, holding Izuku by the arm and dragging him down.
"Uhm, may I know what's happening?" Inko decides to ask. Uraraka pauses in front of them.
"Miss Midoriya, I apologize profusely for destroying the door of his room." Uraraka says with a slight bow. Judging from the battered looks of her son, she probably threw him through said door. "I will pay back for all damages and help in repairs. But now, I really need to borrow him for a moment. I'd also like you to phone Aizawa-sensei, Nedzu and detective Tsukauchi, since I believe that someone…" said someone squeals as the grip on his hand tightens "... needs to tell them a few things."
"Oh, alright." Inko nods. "I can do that." It looks like whatever Uraraka did, helped her son. That's all that matters. Even the doors aren't a problem. She would let her destroy all doors in her house if it meant Izuku getting out of his little moment of despair.
"But…" Izuku tries to complain.
"Izuku. Midoriya." Uraraka says, while turning to face him. "No buts. You're coming with me. Conscious or not. Your decision?"
"C…conscious?" He half-says, half-asks.
"Good." Ochaco replies before turning towards the other Midoriyas in the room. "We should be back in a few hours. Enjoy your meal."
Then she drags him out of the building.
Inko starts crying. This is truly a match made in Heaven, isn't it? Oh, she is looking forward to the wedding sooooo much. And meeting her parents as well, they must be absolutely delightful people to bring up such a nice girl.
(***)
"Midoriya." Eraserhead pinches the bridge of his nose, looking more thoroughly done with his life than ever before.
They are in Nedzu's office. With detective Tsukauchi (who still looks a bit like a bum, he should start taking care of himself more), Nedzu, Midoriya Izuku and Uraraka Ochaco. Nedzu is drinking tea. Tsukauchi looks like he wishes he could knock himself out. Midoriya is clearly fidgeting in his seat, while Uraraka is standing right behind his chair, making it obvious that she is there to stop him from escaping.
"Could you please elaborate on 'it was all part of the plan, and not just Tenko Shimura's false betrayal but almost everything else too'?" Eraserhead says, while Nedzu starts chuckling menacingly in the background."
"Well…" Izuku fidgets a bit more and scratches the side of his head nervously. "I… I think I should start from the beginning."
(***)
He narrates the events at the mall. In practical terms, it sets up the mood. He began with an earthquake - and the people in front of him are yet to realize that the tension is only going to rise from there on.
(***)
"You were kidnapped by two double S-Rank villains." Tsukauchi says. The room is absolutely quiet, by the virtue of Eraserhead being too shocked to speak and Nedzu probably recalculating some of his long-term plans in the light of the new information. "You didn't tell anyone, you had your classmate handle supposedly disarmed explosives in a mall full of people, you spooked the villains into a panicked escape after interrogating them and finding out there is a spy on the UA… and you didn't tell anyone." He looks like he really needs a coffee. "Did I miss something?"
"The fact that I also discovered that the Paranormal Liberation Front has someone with a summoning quirk that makes their supervillains basically impossible to be arrested." Midoriya adds. "But… uhm… well, that part has been dealt with."
"What do you mean it has been dealt with?" Tsukauchi asks, clearly a bit afraid to find out the answer to that question.
(***)
"Tenko, we have a problem." Izuku says soon after they all heard Mandalay's announcement. They are alone in the forest, villains of unknown number are attacking, Monoma's group was just smashed and some of their classmates were kidnapped.
Not like he cared about them, he was just… yes, he was just mildly worried because it weakened their side in this campaign playthrough, that's all. That's all there was to the situation.
Worst of all, Tenko can't just randomly murder his enemies because he is now a hero. Pain in the ass. The alignment shift had its perks, but in Tenko's opinion it was still a major pain in the ass.
"I noticed." He says to someone who is pretty much his cousin in all but name. Formerly an adopted brother, at least before All Might unadopted him by punching Hisashi Shigaraki's face in. Their familial connections are… complicated, to say the least. "What about it?"
"Do you think that you can fake defection to their side?" Izuku replies with a question. Tenko blinks at him a few times, this did come out of the blue.
"Why?" He finally asks.
"PLF has someone, either a noumu or a human, with a quirk that lets them summon their defeated members back to their HQ." Izuku replies, and Tenko decides against asking how the hell does he know that. Also it's fucking cheating! "I need you to find them, and either kill them if they are a noumu or incapacitate them if they are a human. At least, once the heroes find their base. This would also give you an occasion to work on your personal objective. And to make sure that if they kidnapped any students, no harm would come to them."
Tenko thinks it through. If the enemies have noumus, the Doctor is certainly involved. He would certainly fall for it. Tenko forgot to mention how glad he was to stop being called Tomura (honestly, the fact that Tenko was visiting Midoriyas when All for One died was a goddamn miracle that changed everything in his life). But…
"They will need some proof that I switched sides." Tenko points out.
"Dust my arm." Izuku replies and Tenko decides that Izuku is insane.
Then again, who isn't insane nowadays?
(***)
"Midoriya." Eraserhead looks even more tired than earlier, and that's an achievement. "We already realized that Tenko was a double agent, but… you actually told him to destroy your arm and almost kill you? To send him to an enemy camp as an assassin?" Sure, he got his arm back, but…
Even All Might and Inko were surprised by the fact that Eri's quirk worked on Midoriya. Something about the internal mechanisms of the quirk that Midoriya inherited from her father that Eraserhead wasn't privy to.
They all assumed that it was Tenko going way overboard due to knowing that Eri exists, but without knowing that it's not a guaranteed Avoid Death card. Knowing that Midoriya actually told him to do that was… a bit enlightening. Even if the end result would most likely be Midoriya losing an arm instead of life, considering the size of the decayed area.
"Well, yes." Midoriya admits, completely unaware of the internal conflict within Eraserhead's head.. "A day later Tenko reported to me through the Villain Network that the hostages are a bait, and PLF has changed their base into a massive trap for the heroes. So… I moved onto phase two of the plan."
Eraserhead and Tsukauchi shudder with dread. Nedzu shudders with delight.
"Could you elaborate on the trap bit first?" Eraserhead eventually says. "Something more than Revenant, I believe?"
"Err, yes." Midoriya replies, still shaken a lot. "The first part of the trap was a quirk-suppressing bomb that Overhaul prepared. He also inoculated all villains present against it, and planned to detonate it in order to depower the heroes." That, the three people in front of him realize at once, would be disastrous. "As for my countermeasures…"
(***)
Dabi is busy drinking alcohol in the PLF's secret complex, waiting for the heroes and (most likely) his dad to arrive and get slaughtered. This is when he suddenly receives a message on the Villain Network.
He pulls out a phone and examines it.
SmallMight: Dabi. I've come to bargain.
Now that's a name that he didn't hear in a while.
ArchArsonist: Huh, what happened?
ArchArsonist: Did you decide to believe in my tale, now?
SmallMight: Actually, yes.
SmallMight: I met Shoto Todoroki. He agrees with you on Endeavor's parenting.
SmallMight: He lacks the social skills to lie in an even remotely convincing way.
Huh. Who would have thought? Small Might had a change of mind. And so did Endeavor's little masterpiece. Three years too late for Small Might to change anything, but… well.
ArchArsonist: Congratulations.
ArchArsonist: Now fuck off.
SmallMight: So you don't want to end Endeavor's life and career in the most twisted and painful way imaginable?
SmallMight: How unlike you.
ArchArsonist: … speak.
SmallMight: He is making amends now, can you believe it? Stopped training Shoto, is trying to make up with his family. He is trying to be a GOOD FATHER for his children now. For all of his children… except for you, Touya.
(***)
"WHAT?!" Tsukauchi stares at Midoriya in abject horror. "Dabi is Touya Todoroki?! And you knew all along?!"
"They both make blue flames and hate Endeavor!" Midoriya shouts back. "I thought it was obvious! Why didn't any of you connect the dots yourself?! " He only knew because Dabi was once frequenting some of the more… anti-heroes forums, where many disenfranchised hanged around.
An accident made him come to the forum that Midoriya Izuku was an administrator of. And, unfortunately, Izuku didn't believe him. Then again, he was a kid back then. Intelligent and driven (everyone there thought that he was an adult, and he never admitted otherwise), but fundamentally immature. Still idealizing heroes (especially the top ones) too much. Perhaps if he was a few years older, the Arch-Arsonist would have never been born.
Then again, now that Izuku thinks about it, Touya having issues with Endeavor wasn't common knowledge back then. Nedzu still probably knew about it.
"And that's a very good question." Nedzu comments dryly. "I think we just all assumed that Touya was dead, and while extremely rare, blue fire quirks do occur in the wild. I also believe that everyone thought that Touya's flames were blue that day because he took Trigger. Also, they found a part of his corpse on that mountain." He blinks. "Wait, whose corpse was it then?"
Midoriya knows a lot, but he has limits. He has no clue either. Dabi had no idea either.
(***)
ArchArsonist: That fucker is doing what?!
SmallMight: now listen to this
SmallMight: I know someone whose quirk can heal all your wounds.
SmallMight: more than that
SmallMight: They can deage you, make you impossible to recognize as Dabi… but not as Touya Todoroki.
SmallMight: You can return to your family, Dabi.
SmallMight: After all, is there a better place for you to truly damage Endeavor as from the inside of his beloved 'family' that he is trying to piece together with all his heart?
SmallMight: All you need to do is pretend that you escaped in the chaos of the attack on the PLF, that they experimented on you for your quirks due to it being similar to Endeavor's. That they used some deaging quirk on you to prevent your own quirk from destroying you, so that they would have more time for tests.
SmallMight: You can ruin him, Dabi. Truly and thoroughly ruin him. From the inside of his beloved family.
SmallMight: Instead of simply killing him during this attack. And then promptly dying out of your injuries.
ArchArsonist: What do you have in all that?
SmallMight: I'm trying to make amends, Dabi. I made a horrible mistake by not believing you back then.
SmallMight: Soon All Might's age will be over. Do you think that Endeavor would be a good replacement for him?
ArchArsonist: All heroes are shits
ArchArsonist: some are just more than others
ArchArsonist: how do I know that I can trust you?
SmallMight: I lended the person in question to Stain to heal Ingenium's spine.
SmallMight: you no longer work together, but you should still have some contact with him
SmallMight: Just ask him directly.
ArchArsonist: I will do it.
ArchArsonist: if he confirms… what do you need me to do?
SmallMight: Overhaul cannot release his gas during the heroes raid on the PLF base.
SmallMight: That's all that I need from you.
(***)
"Did you…" Eraserhead looks like he wishes he could simply jump through the window and fall down, headfirst, into merciful oblivion. "... persuade Dabi, the infamous Arch-Arsonist, a man responsible for a three digit number of deaths, to betray the Paranormal Liberation Front… by offering him the Number Two Hero's head?"
"Well, yes." Midoriya has the decency to look ashamed. "But that was the only way I could think of to neutralize the gas! Also, yes, he got what he wanted, just not how he wanted. You'll find out in a few days, either way. Let's just say that he really, really wishes that he didn't agree to it. Also, Dabi's career is over. Forever. And so is his threat to Endeavor's life."
Enji Todoroki is genuinely trying to become a better person. There is no way that Izuku would interrupt that.
"And… was that your whole plan?" Eraserhead asks. His tired and slightly breaking voice makes it sound like he was begging.
"Of course not, just the second part of the second phase.." Midoriya replies.
Nedzu cackles maniacally from the side. Someone's having a great day.
(***)
No, it's not the whole reason why Midoriya broke so much. It'll be a bit explored in the next chapter. WHICH WILL ALSO FINALLY REVEAL THE IDENTITY OF THE UA TRAITOR! Who is it going to be? Even Midoriya is still not off the table (after all, who knows why exactly did he broke up so much, hmm?). Your last occasion to do bets about that :P
"Also, they found a part of his corpse on that mountain." He blinks. "Wait, whose corpse was it then?"
Midoriya knows a lot, but he has limits. He has no clue either. Dabi had no idea either. "
Funniest part about that? It's probably going to be explained in the next goddamn chapter of manga. Because of course it'll be. Ugh.
Also I must say that seeing Uraraka go Midoriya on Midoriya sure is satisfying.